Despite the extreme sophistication of gas turbine engines, such as turbines for generating electrical power or aircraft engines for commercial and military use, designers and operators have deficient information with respect to the operational relationship of certain engine components. This is due at least in part to harsh operating conditions and close tolerances between certain components, which often prevent using traditional sensors for collecting accurate information of critical engine components.
Some components within a turbine engine are assembled using a slip fit such as a dovetail, fir tree, T-slot and others. Turbine components such as vanes and ring segments may slide into grooves and be held in place with air pressure used to cool the components during operation. Turbine blades may fit into a turbine disk and be held in place by centrifugal force during operation. Nonetheless, turbine vanes, blades and other components tend to vibrate during operation due to air flowing through the turbine. This flow induced vibration leads to wear at contact surfaces causing inefficient turbine operation and may lead to critical component failure.